Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Sens Go Down Scrapping As Streak Dies

Boston 5 Ottawa 3

For a while it looked like Ottawa was going to extend their six game winning streak against an obviously frustrated and struggling Bruins team, but once Boston started hitting in the second period, the Senators were just trying to hang on.

Simply put, the Senators just didn't have an answer for the size of the Bruins down low. The Senators defence were fine when they had the puck but for the first time in a while it looked like they were physically overmatched. It was a tough game for the Jason Spezza line as well, as Spezza was rocked pretty good by Zdeno Chara and didn't seem to have much steam left after that.

One player who was worth watching against the Bruins was big Jared Cowen. He is one of the only Sens defenders who can play that style all-night long and he did pretty well for himself in his own end. A game against a team like the Bruins is where you will see Cowen's true worth, and that also bodes well for any future playoffs where this type of game is more the norm. He also got his first goal of the season on a bouncer from the point that eluded Tim Thomas. Not a bad goalie to score your first one on.

The Senators were due for a loss and at least they went down fighting with Zack Smith and Zenon Konopka throwing their fists around.

Heartily agree with Shaun Van Allen who had the guts to say he actually "likes" the shootout on the Team 1200 pre-game show (Bruce Garrioch had his back as well). In fact, Van Allen thinks it should go to five shooters from three, something else Black Aces completely supports. With three shooters, you don't have enough of a chance to come back if you get down early….. I didn't see anything wrong with the Francois Beauchemin hit on Mike Fisher. Shoulder to shoulder and Fisher had the puck. Why would that be a suspendable offence? Not even close to what Wojtek Wolski did to Daniel Alfredsson. That's not me being a homer, because I'm not a homer. I sleep just fine when the Senators lose games. But to me, it's apples and oranges, even if both players were hurt.....That was one of Zenon Konopka's better fights of the season when he obliged Shawn Thornton. But as sometimes happens, the Bruins got some momentum out of it.....Which Nick Foligno promptly erased with a sickening pass between his legs to Stephane Da Costa for the Senators second goal. Foligno seemingly feels he has to put on a stickhandling exhibition every time he has the puck, to his detriment, but it sure as hell worked that time. Unbelievable pass.....What the hell is wrong with the Detroit Red Wings? A lot of people have been waiting for them to finally break down one of these years and get forced into a rebuild. Those people may feel that year is upon us, but something tells me they’ll find a way out of the wilderness yet again. Has anyone said they miss Paul MacLean yet? No? OK, let me be the first….

..... Finally getting around to reading James Duthie’s book on Brian Kilrea, “They Call Me Killer”. And it’s a hell of a read. For instance, one of Kilrea’s teammates on the Eddie Shore owned Springfield Indians, Denny Olson, relates this little piece of information: “Eddie (Shore) would say ‘I want you to skate like a Boy Scout taking a shit in the woods. You gotta position your back so you don’t shit on your heels!’” Kilrea himself talks about Shore trying to teach him this unique skating style by tying Kilrea’s elbows together behind his back with a string, taping his gloves to his stick, tying his legs together to prevent long strides and then putting a stick under his jersey and up his back to keep him straight. Sounds a little like Robin Lehner’s old man….The new alignment plans being floated out there by Elliotte Friedman (who reports it as Gary Bettman’s preferred scenario) basically makes everyone out of your division similar to how it works now between the East and West conferences – two games a year, a home and home. So that would mean Ottawa fans would only get one chance to see Alex Ovechkin, Claude Giroux, Steven Stamkos etc. Right off the bat, that doesn’t make any sense. They have a good balance going right now. Why throw it out the window just accommodate teams like the Jets, Stars and the Blue Jackets? Just switch the Jets out with one of Detroit, Nashville or Columbus and away we go (please make it Detroit)….

..... Paul Bissonnette is great for the NHL but posting a picture of a teammate in blackface is a pretty serious lack of judgment, even for professional athletes who lead a somewhat sheltered life and may not be fully aware of just how historically touchy that type of thing is. The NHL is still an old-school place where owners and executives are largely uncomfortable with players (i.e. peons) making waves outside of the rink. Just ask Ray Emery and Sean Avery. Anything that has a racist overtone, no matter how unintentional, is about the worst PR you can get. It’s also notable that Bissonnette plays for a team being run by the NHL itself. I’m not saying they would be looking to trade him, but since he’s not a superstar on the ice, his activities off of it will be tolerated that much less. He’s not Patrick Kane punching a cab driver in the face. He’s a fourth liner who inadvertently unleashed a PR nightmare for both the Coyotes and the NHL. Biz Nasty will live on, but will it be with the Coyotes for the long-term?.... How do I feel about the whole thing? It was an innocent mistake. Time to move on….Don’t you hate it when people ask themselves questions like I just did? What an asshole.